Mythical
Well-Known Member
I keep saying my horse is just a little bit unfit and that I need to work it, but to be honest, I have no idea how fit or unfit she is or how fit or unfit she should be.
Weight wise, I'd say she's somewhere between a 2 and a 2.5. (using the five point scale) I want to put a bit more on her but not much. The only real workout she gets at the moment is schooling, and I tend to do a little over an hour, mostly trot, steadily increasing the canter work, but with lots of walk breaks, until she tells me she's tired, then we do another few minutes. We also hack out in walk with a little bit of trot, for about 30-45 minutes, once a week(ish). I don't want to do too much because it's all roadwork and she's unshod and drags her feet. We have nowhere to have a long, straight canter or gallop and I don't think I have the control to do that yet anyway. If we're jumping, our sessions are much shorter, maybe 45 minutes again with lots of walk breaks but we don't jump often. I intended to make it once or twice a week, but the reality is, I'm too lazy to set jumps up and put them down again. We only jump up to about 85cm at the moment.
In all, she's ridden five times a week now. Last year (around april) she collapsed and we think it was due to overwork and lack of correct food (communication failure between owner and sharer) so I'm wary of doing too much with her. She had a day off yesterday because shes had 4 schooling days in a row (we normally do 2 days in the school, an easy hack, 2 more days in the school and a day off then start again) definitely looked tired.
I want to do some RC dressage and jumping this summer and maybe one ODE towards the end of the year.
I read a guide saying a horse ridden three times a week should be capable of a days hunting, so should my horse, ridden five times a week be capable of a 1.5 hour walk, a 45 minute lesson and a 1.5 hour walk back?
Weight wise, I'd say she's somewhere between a 2 and a 2.5. (using the five point scale) I want to put a bit more on her but not much. The only real workout she gets at the moment is schooling, and I tend to do a little over an hour, mostly trot, steadily increasing the canter work, but with lots of walk breaks, until she tells me she's tired, then we do another few minutes. We also hack out in walk with a little bit of trot, for about 30-45 minutes, once a week(ish). I don't want to do too much because it's all roadwork and she's unshod and drags her feet. We have nowhere to have a long, straight canter or gallop and I don't think I have the control to do that yet anyway. If we're jumping, our sessions are much shorter, maybe 45 minutes again with lots of walk breaks but we don't jump often. I intended to make it once or twice a week, but the reality is, I'm too lazy to set jumps up and put them down again. We only jump up to about 85cm at the moment.
In all, she's ridden five times a week now. Last year (around april) she collapsed and we think it was due to overwork and lack of correct food (communication failure between owner and sharer) so I'm wary of doing too much with her. She had a day off yesterday because shes had 4 schooling days in a row (we normally do 2 days in the school, an easy hack, 2 more days in the school and a day off then start again) definitely looked tired.
I want to do some RC dressage and jumping this summer and maybe one ODE towards the end of the year.
I read a guide saying a horse ridden three times a week should be capable of a days hunting, so should my horse, ridden five times a week be capable of a 1.5 hour walk, a 45 minute lesson and a 1.5 hour walk back?
Just to add that I did it without the haynet and water, but now I know better and would rather he wasn't without something in his stomach for that long, and that offering a drink of water is fine 
